Area types nitrate manure decree, 01/01/2021

Since 1 January 2019, a new Manure Decree has been in force in Flanders, the ‘Decree amending the Decree of 5 April 1995 laying down general provisions on environmental policy and the Manure Decree of 22 December 2006 as regards the implementation of the Sixth Manure Action Programme’. Europe encouraged Flanders to take a more thorough approach to the protection of surface and groundwater. The Manure Decree, also known as MAP 6 (Manure Action Plan 6), aims to reduce water pollution by nitrates and phosphates from agricultural sources and to prevent further pollution. The Manure Bank Department of the Flemish Land Agency (VLM) implements this decree. The area type classification in MAP 6 replaces the former demarcation of the focus areas nitrate manure decree. The new classification consists of four area types and various area-based measures are used there. The Sixth Manure Action Plan (MAP 6) provides for a biennial review of the classification of the area types. This is done on the basis of the most recent nitrate measurements in the surface and groundwater in agricultural areas, carried out by the Flemish Environment Agency. The new map with area types that will apply in the period 2021-2022 was adopted by the Flemish Government on 27 November 2020. Specifically, the area types of nitrate manure decree are demarcated as follows: - Outflow zones of the Flemish water bodies as a basis These zones are used as a basic geographical unit for the classification into the different area types. In total, there are 265 run-off zones, depending on the assessment of the quality of surface and groundwater, each run-off zone is classified into one of the four area types. - Assessment of surface water The assessment of surface water quality is the starting point. The average nitrate concentration of the EAP measurement points is the indicator to assess the overall impact of agriculture on surface water quality in a given run-off zone. The target value for the average nitrate concentration is 18 mg nitrate/l. This target value is derived from data analysis and is the translation of the limit value for nitrate nitrogen between good and moderate surface water quality status from the Water Framework Directive. This limit value is 10 mg nitrate/l, which corresponds to 44.3 mg nitrate/l, as the 90th percentile value. In concrete terms, this means that 90% of the measurements must comply with this limit value. Depending on the target distance to the target value, each run-off zone is classified into one of the four surface water area types. - Groundwater assessment The average nitrate concentration in the upper filter of the groundwater measurement points is a good indicator to assess the overall impact of agriculture on groundwater quality in a given run-off zone. Due to the longer travel times to groundwater, the trend in nitrate concentration in the area type classification for groundwater is also taken into account. - Area type classification on the basis of surface water and groundwater In order to arrive at a definitive demarcation, the demarcation on the basis of the surface water criterion is combined with the groundwater criterion. The area type classification based on surface water forms the basis and is increased by +1 (up to a maximum of 3) depending on the result of the groundwater assessment. Drainage zones that are area type 0 after the combination of surface and groundwater but where the 90th percentile value of all measurements in surface water measurement points (based on winter years 2016-2017, 2017-2018 and 2018-2019) exceeds 44.3 mg nitrate/l are additionally referred to as area type 1.